1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates ro stitch-bonded thermal insulating fabrics, which are useful in apparel, particularly for innerwear and sleepwear, blankets, bedspreads, etc.
2. Background Information
Fabrics having a base layer stitched-bonded with yarn are well-known in the art. Base layers of loose material, such as matting, an array of loose filling threads, or a layer of wadding, may be stitch-bonded, i.e. bound or enmeshed with the loops of a multitude of chain-stitched warp threads, to provide a fabric having coherence, tensile strength, and durability as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,890,579 (Mauersberger). Nonwoven fabric webs have been stitch-bonded to provide varied patterned surfaces as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,664,157 (Kochta et al.), 3,782,137 (Hughes), and 3,992,904 (Webb et al.). Stitch-bonding has also been used to secure loop-pile threads to a base layer as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,597,941 (Jindra et al.). British Patent Application No. 1,427,191 discloses a stitch-bonded fabric having a base layer which contains thermally bondable fibers to increase abrasion resistance and pill resistance.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,910,072 (Svoboda et al.) discloses a stitchbonded fabric with thermoinsulating properties which includes a base layer such as a needled-reinforced fibrous fleece, a woven fabric or knitted fabric, transversely arranged weft threads and stitch-bonding warp threads.